User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: ID Check at the Internet Cafe

changye,

Thankyou very much for the excellent links you gave me above.They contained exactly the explanations I was looking for.Fascinating.I liked the following "For the sake of convenience, tone selection is disabled by default in most modern pinyin systems on the computer".I was wishing that when I'm trying to speak in Chinese I could disable the listeners tone selection and engage their predictive interpretation.Probably they are already doing this most of the time ,but my pronunciation is still not up to speed.Oh well,that would take some of the fun and music out of it I suppose.I also liked the term "fuzzy pinyin";very apt for me.lol.

I had been wondering what blind Chinese people do for braille ,but I see there was a link in one of the articles which I will follow up on.I was also wondering about typewriters before the advent of computers.I guess they must have had a huge number of the most frequently used characters and must have been tricky to use.

You mentioned google pinyin and I think I saw someone else in another post mention this as being in their opinion the best IME.My computer initially couldn't write Chinese characters.So when I started on CPod a few weeks ago ,I had to crack out my original xp disc and get the Chinese enabled.So that is the system I'm using.I'm wondering what most people use and if I'd be better switching to google pinyin.Can you switch back and forth between the two.I'd also like to try some of the other IME's like bopomofo and cangjie but not sure how easy it will be to switch back and forth.Anyway thanks again for your excellent help.Cheers.

Posted on: Farm Animals

josht77,

Shouldn't you be asking about monkey's [or do you already know that one ;if so ,do you mind sharing]? I love your avatar as the monkey magic tv series ,which aired here in Oz in 1979 is one of my alltime favourite shows.Wish they'd bring it back.It was hilarious.

Posted on: Farm Animals

A minipodcast interview with the pig hostage lady:

www.fox.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/listen/minicasts

Click on the third link:

Hamish & Andy Minicast - Monster Pig

Posted on: Farm Animals

Thanks Amber,

Now that I have the tones,I'm ready to attempt them,but my attempts will now be even funnier having not heard them.Will definitely be fun next time at a Chinese banquet after a couple of drinks.At least Chinese New Year should be more fun.咴儿咴儿

Posted on: Farm Animals

checkingoutchina,

yes,that could be very funny;I'll second that vote.Probably simple dialogue like kàn ! ròu; kǒnglóngròu !! Definitely at newbie/elle level.Perhaps if I could master that lesson I could then at least feel that I had achieved Chinese caveman status.Only a few other words necessary;fire;cave;club,woman,run for your lives.

I meant to add to my initial comment that my disappointment at Ken's lack of attempt at making all the animal noises was more than appeased by Jenny's hilarious attempt at one at least; the chicken 鸡 ;which is the funniest one to imitate anyway.Thanks Jenny;what a good sport you are!Also appeased by the Forest Gump impersonation.Don't hold back ;we love it.

On the topic of farm animals,breaking news in Australia is a story about a 63 year old woman being held hostage in her house by an enormous aggressive pig demanding huge quantities of food.

Here is a link to that story:
http://m.news.com.au/TopStories/fi255185.htm

Posted on: Farm Animals

I would have liked to hear the Chinese version of the onamatopoeia for these animal noises.What are the tones on the words in the intro such as "miemie"?

Is there a Chinese version of "Old McDonald had a farm", or a similar song sung by Chinese kids?

Is there a similar expression to "as Irish as Paddy's pigs";like as Chinese as Zhu1 de zhu1 ,or as Chinese as Wang de yang2 ? Bit of a lame guess at it I know.Actually I'm guessing there is no equivalent.

ps Now that we know your zodiac signs,we can of course have a pretty good educated guess at your ages.What are the words for the other 7 animals of the Chinese zodiac?

It was a very interesting observation about dong4wu4 containing dong4 and that English also has animate.Interesting insights into one's own language studying Chinese .Common threads of thought.

Posted on: Farm Animals

Only one disappointment;Ken didn't do all the animal noises in the dialogue as he had been encouraged to do by Jenny in a previous lesson [Equestrian lesson 798],which would have made this lesson even funnier than it already was.But seriously ,another great lesson ,and the animal noises were very good leaving no ambiguity.

As for a mnemonic for ma3 ,I always remembered it by thinking of the 3rd tone looking a bit like a saddle/horses back.

Posted on: Lesson Preview, New Team Member

Cpod/Praxis,

Out of interest ,is there any future goal of starting up a CantonesePod ? I know GermanPod is somewhere on the horizon.Are there any other languages being planned at this stage?

Posted on: ID Check at the Internet Cafe

dianbaoluo,

It's all there in the expansion section if you just roll your mouse over the words.I hope this helps.

Posted on: Reading Faces and Shanghai Architecture

Amber,

[Correct me if I'm wrong turdferguson],but I'm pretty sure his avatar is a pic of Johnny from the "Karate Kid" movie.Very funny reply though.